People

Elvis Presley–Signed Copy of the Book of Mormon a Forgery, Historian Says

For almost 30 years, a copy of the Book of Mormon has been preserved in the historical collections of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The book was published in 1976 with a soft, light blue cover featuring a golden angel Moroni. Within the book there are handwritten markings on nearly one of every six pages—the majority are underlining or curved brackets, but three dozen of the pages contain handwritten words. The first page contains the signature “E. A. Presley” and on the last page (in the index) was written, “Father, I want more! I need more now. Help me!” The content and placement of the annotations suggest that Elvis Presley read this copy of the Book of Mormon from cover to cover.

The idea of Elvis Presley cherishing the Book of Mormon has captured the popular imagination of Latter-day Saints. The story of this book has been told by fireside speakers, classroom teachers, newspaper columnists, and an independent filmmaker. And the story continues to circulate throughout the market for “uplifting” books and social media.

The idea of Elvis Presley cherishing the Book of Mormon has captured the popular imagination of Latter-day Saints. The story of this book has been told by fireside speakers, classroom teachers, newspaper columnists, and an independent filmmaker. And the story continues to circulate throughout the market for “uplifting” books and social media.

However, after carefully analyzing the historical opportunities for Presley to have read this volume and the handwriting throughout its pages, I affirm that Elvis Presley did not write in this Book of Mormon. A detailed presentation of the analysis with photographic evidence will be published in a forthcoming issue of BYU Studies, but my findings about the book’s history, its forged signature, and its forged annotations are summarized here.

The book’s donor claimed to have given the book to Elvis Presley on August 2, 1977. Elvis died 14 days later, and the book was allegedly returned to the donor who shared it with a few people before it was transferred to the Church in 1989.

MEHNovember 27, 2018

Who cares? Really, what does it really matter? Does it make the Book of Mormon more or less true? As far as Elvis' spiritual well being, I would guess his temple work has been done several thousand times.

E. BellNovember 25, 2018

Is this a separate copy than the one given to Elvis by the Osmond family? It was my understanding the Osmond copy would have been given to Elvis several years earlier - and was also returned to them following his death. Several of the family have commented on the close relationship between Elvis and Olive Osmond, mother of the singing Osmonds.
As for the markings - at that time, it was common for members of the Church to give pre-marked copies of the Book of Mormon to people.